Tuesday
Today at 10am my partner Bas and I arrived at the CEO's office of Tamweel, the UAE largest Sharia'a compliant home financing institution. He was stuck in court filing papers for some reason or another, so we had a cup of coffee and discussed the growth of Dubai, Sukuks, and the first Amex Sharia'a complaint credit card from Saudi with the Marketing Manager Mr. Nabil. Interesting.
After having a chicken sandwich and double apple shisha from a great local spot, we decided to head for Dubai's Convention Center. Dubai is wanting to become the number 1 spot for Conventions in the world, and already they have multiple exhibitions and conferences daily.
Today we checked out DIHAD, Dubai International Humanitarian Aid and Development Show. Being the first day in the three day event, half of the floor showroom (3 giant halls were used so it was pretty big) had booths for all the different aid organizations from all over the world; UNICEF, UN Food Program, NGO's, Development Banks, etc. The second half of the room looked more like a car showroom, with Ford' LandRovers, Toyota's 4WD, and other Armoured vehicles and accessories like bullet proof glass and anti-mine vehicles. It seemed like an odd fit, so I just had to ask.
The answer was simple, this 50/50 mix of booths of aid organizations and vehicle logistics was no coincidence. Turns out, "50% of all expenses related to relief efforts are transportation costs", the LandRover guy explained. "You can have the best Doctors, the best medicines in the world, but if you can't reach the people that need it, none of it matters."
From deep into the jungles of Colombia, to high passes in Nepal to the vast deserts of Sudan, you need proper vehicles that will work in any and all conditions hands down. People need help and you need to get it to them, fast. It's all about shorting and quickening the supply chain..
Looking at Humanitarian Aid as a transportation and fleet issue is something both new and interesting. Bringing cheaper, more reliant and economical vehicles to these international organizations means less money spent on metal and more money spent on medicine.
Sure Supply Chain Management sounds cool, but who would have thought it would actaully be cool?
After having a chicken sandwich and double apple shisha from a great local spot, we decided to head for Dubai's Convention Center. Dubai is wanting to become the number 1 spot for Conventions in the world, and already they have multiple exhibitions and conferences daily.
Today we checked out DIHAD, Dubai International Humanitarian Aid and Development Show. Being the first day in the three day event, half of the floor showroom (3 giant halls were used so it was pretty big) had booths for all the different aid organizations from all over the world; UNICEF, UN Food Program, NGO's, Development Banks, etc. The second half of the room looked more like a car showroom, with Ford' LandRovers, Toyota's 4WD, and other Armoured vehicles and accessories like bullet proof glass and anti-mine vehicles. It seemed like an odd fit, so I just had to ask.
The answer was simple, this 50/50 mix of booths of aid organizations and vehicle logistics was no coincidence. Turns out, "50% of all expenses related to relief efforts are transportation costs", the LandRover guy explained. "You can have the best Doctors, the best medicines in the world, but if you can't reach the people that need it, none of it matters."
From deep into the jungles of Colombia, to high passes in Nepal to the vast deserts of Sudan, you need proper vehicles that will work in any and all conditions hands down. People need help and you need to get it to them, fast. It's all about shorting and quickening the supply chain..
Looking at Humanitarian Aid as a transportation and fleet issue is something both new and interesting. Bringing cheaper, more reliant and economical vehicles to these international organizations means less money spent on metal and more money spent on medicine.
Sure Supply Chain Management sounds cool, but who would have thought it would actaully be cool?
posted by Matt Switzer at 12:23 PM
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